Throughout his life Hubert Berke was fascinated by the colorfulness and the materiality of glass and designed a great number of glass mosaics and windows. His works on and off glass are a continuation of his calligraphic watercolor works. They are characterized by their luminosity, their effortlessness and their playfulness. The designs were made on paper before being poured into a mortar bed. The mosaics were created with the help of Rainer Flock while the glass windows were mainly created by the glass painting workshop Wilhelm Derix in Dusseldorf.
“The uncut glass bricks with their luminosity symbolize the beginning and ending of divine statues and human faith.”
(Toni Feldenkirchen, Franziskanerinnen Mutterhaus Olpe)
Berke’s glass works include:
- the stairwell in the center of german employer’s association in Cologne (torn down)
- 32 windows of Saints in the Christ-König Church in Essen Haarzopf
- 22 windows in the collegiate church in Bonn
- 8 windows in the franciscan convent in Olpe
- 5 windows in the convent in Alfter
- 3 windows in the St. Joseph church in Cologne Rodenkirchen
- 1 window in the graveyard chapel in Gelsenkirchen Hassel
- glass concrete in the youth and adult education center in Bergkamen/ Pelkum
- glass wall in the Federal Armed Forces building in Cologne
- windows for the hospital chapel in Gütersloh
- windows in the central bank in Stuttgart
- windows for a number of private houses in Cologne and beyond
